How one atheist sees life

I Challenge Non-Believers….

Yes, kind of an odd title… let’s see if I can make it flow. Yes, an anti-theist challenges all non-theists to answer a few small questions.

My friend PreacherOnTheWeb always puts out a sermon of sorts and I think them through, comment, and question. This latest one leads me to ask what other non-believers will or would answer:

“What do you say to yourself when you are pressed in on every side by dangerous situations? What do you do when you face troubles?”

Preacher has lots of verses and just one book that you have to keep to help you answer these questions. Since non-believers are not using that book or other holy text, how do you answer these questions?

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That’s what’s important! Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!

I work with a guy who can quote verbatim from thousands of movies… it means little on face value. The sentiment though, was further expressed as looking inside themselves and not outward for help. This is the gist of both Conan’s prayer and the dialogue in The 13th Warrior…

I say to myself, “What do I want to be able to say about myself and my conduct tomorrow?” When faced with choices about immediate decisions, I ask myself, “How will I feel about doing this choice tomorrow?” It’s surprising how often that shifting of perspective clarifies the right (or should I say ‘better’) choice of behaviour in the present.

It first depends what the trouble is. In a lot of situations it is dangerous to be afraid of failing–or, more to the point, to not act because of fear of failing. So, you pick something a problem and you try to deal with it or brace yourself, let it pass and hope you learned something along the way.

But you try and work your way out of it, normally. If the problem is a person, face that person and bargain or reason (or fight, if you have to) with them. If the problem is a situation, work on it. No matter what you do, doing something tends to get more results than clasping your hands in prayer. I don’t understand the pertinence of the question.

“What do you say to yourself when you are pressed in on every side by dangerous situations?”

Try to find the safest escape from the danger like anyone else.

“What do you do when you face troubles?”

Try to find the best solution to the obstacle like anyone else.

I find it most empowering to know that I’m capable of resolving my own obstacles and that I don’t have to sit around waiting for my prayers to be answered. I find my life much more manageable now that I take control of my own conflict resolution.

Can I be both crass and honest? Feel free to edit if my language goes overboard.

Oh shit! Right, what’s next? (either what is next to come at me, or what is next to solve it) is my answer to the first one.

What do I do when I face troubles… well, hell. It would be easer to ask what I do when NOT facing troubles! Life is a never ending parade of ‘oh shit’ for me, from the washer breaking down to my dog getting bloody runs or a close friend with cancer. I was never promised a rose garden – I grew my own (and blog about it constantly, urk). It has never, ever, occurred to me that sitting on my heels and asking for help was ever going to fix any trouble I came across.

But hey, maybe if I did sit and meditate calmly I’d have better ideas. I can see that as the only real worth of prayer.

The word “God” is actually a very generic word that anyone can use. Some people seem to think “God” is intelligent enough to care what happens to them. (I don’t. I think God is very dumb.) Perhaps the concept of “God” is simply a way to focus one’s own willpower, and so it doesn’t really matter if you say it in an act of desperation, because it’s only an abstract concept.